Nithya to get his passport back
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Team DNA
Nithyananda can now travel abroad as the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has ordered immediate return of his passport which was impounded after his arrest in April.
Passport officers had seized Nithyananda's passport on April 29 after the director-general of police had asked the passport office to impound the godman's passport. Invoking a section of the Passports Act, 1967, the passport officers had confiscated his passport.
Nithyananda's lawyers had filed an appeal to the MEA in New Delhi. The lawyers had also later filed an additional affidavit with the MEA and argued that it is the fundamental right of an individual to travel, and the police had no powers to curtail these rights.
The lawyers argued that the passport was seized when there was a tendency of a criminal case and merely a first information report will not empower the passport office to seize it.
DNA_Aug 11 2010_Pg 5_Nithya to get his passport back_Bangalore